Pastels
by redthe3rd
Summary: Feliks is an illustrator. Toris is his editor in charge. Together they try to make it to the deadline and survive.
1. Chapter 1

Toris inwardly groaned as he heard his superior idea. So now the next few days were not meant to be his long awaited Easter holidays and escape from work, no, they would be only work.

"I hope you didn't book any expensive holidays over the break" his boss had the courtesy to sound at least a bit remorseful. Wrinkles on the old face prominent while frowning.

"No, no. It's fine. This is an important project and it needs to be ready for the Tuesday after holidays." Raivis is right, I'm such a pushover.

"You are good boy Toris and I must thank you for taking care of this," he sighted trying to think of an accurate descriptive word "this mess, Francis made. I can only assure you that there will be consequences for his actions. He's being more and more full of himself, only because he became a bit popular for a novelist"

Toris could only stand in silence in the office of the head of the company. He didn't want to complain, he liked his job as an editor. Most of the time it was unnerving and chaotic. Stomach ache got worse at times. Toris was the youngest editor, which meant being a gofer half of the time.

He graduated half a year ago from a University and with a stroke of luck found this position. It was like a lottery ticket, his school wasn't the best and his marks weren't on the top of the class but somehow or other (it may have helped bumping into a high school friend that was a nephew of his current boss) the door to dream career opened.

Toris had a degree in literature but as an editor he was stuck working with the illustrators. The company mostly published children books. In charge of few artists, his main task was to check on their progress, secure them new jobs and overlook the process. But maybe, soon, he could jump to another department and start working with the writers. Thrilling idea. No more accidental paint splats on his new clothes, problems of reformatting from RGB to CMYK or angry calls from the printers about the joke notes on the slug.

Why were the printers and illustrator always fighting.

Toris tuned in back at the end of his boss' long monologue

"… so you must make sure that the guy makes it to the deadline. I don't care how." the boss looked as fierce as a bulldog (behind his back, Alfred always called him Churchill), then his expression softened "I know he was supposed to have at least two weeks to make the drawings but nothing we can do about it now. Five days to go."

"It's ok, we'll make it" Toris smiled reassuringly, the boss eye lit up with a bit of hope "I'm going to grab some stuff form home and then dash to catch Lukasiewicz at home."

He heard a firm thank you from his supervisor as he exited the room.

"Yes, I'm sorry Rai. You should really go and have Easter at Eduards" he smiled to the phone in his hand as his younger brother proclaimed for the 3rd time that he would not celebrate holidays without him "Don't worry to much, I enjoy this job. I'll see you after Tuesday then."

Toris stood with his weekender bag on the doorstep of the "lucky" illustrator's apartment. The door he was facing was painted pale green. After ringing the bell he heard some clutter and cursing, then the door opened slowly, and a hesitant blond head peered out.

"Oh, hiya. You came already." the man took a step inside and let the editor in.

"Sorry to bother you" Toris said sheepishly, "but Francis was two weeks late for the deadline."

"No worries, Francis does it all the time and" the last word was stretched as the blond shook his head in disbelief "we all allowed him to do that since beginning. Our enfant terrible." fake french accent, Toris snickered "I can't understand why we spoiled him so much"

"maybe the boss is a fan of his stories" After breaking the bad news and getting an amused not angry reply, Toris stopped feeling the need to stare and his shoes.

A shorter man stood right besides him. It was Feliks. They worked together a couple of times before. The man gave the impression of being friendly but shy. The illustrator's clothes were always pastel, coordinated pale hues of gray, blue and lavender. They suited his light hair and pale skin. Actually they even matched with the pastel palette used in Feliks' miniature apartment.

"So I'll get us some tea and we'll talk over this new story from Francis" Feliks was already heading into the kitchen.

* * *

><p>Don't kill me, it's not what one may think. I can explain why this story is up instead of an update to the others. It's just written already (apart from 2 scenes and double checking the grammar).<p>

CMYK - print format for colors, Cyan magenta yellow black

RGB - screen format for color, Red Green Blue

Slug - a space to note stuff for printers

Yes, there is an ongoing war between the designer and printers


	2. Chapter 2

The first night Toris spent at his charge's home, Feliks made him a bed on the sofa with two pillows and a blanket. The blond offered to lend him his own bed (Feliks would be working till morning anyway) instead of sleeping in a the living room that doubled as a workspace.

Toris declined.

Two hours later, he was cursing his choice and proper manners. Everything reminded him of the deadline. The mouse clicks , sounds of pencil moving on paper and the evil gleam of the monitor, shining brightly onto the wall from behind his back. It was driving him and his stomach crazy. He should have taken his Ipod with him. Toris tried to concentrate on something different, next holidays or his brother, but nothing proved a worthy distraction. After, what was probably century worth of stress, Toris finally calmed enough to control his stomachache.

It was a long night. Toris finally fell asleep when his coworker decided to get a break and take a shower around 3 AM.

* * *

><p>The evening found Toris and Feliks, sitting on the floor of the living room, eating delivery pizza. The dark circles were peeking from under the blond's prescriptioned glasses, need only as an anti-reflection filter. Feliks denied being short sighted (It was true. Toris found out later that Feliks was far sighted.)<p>

Toris finished his half of the pepperoni and was now looking at his companion's attempts to stuff himself. His brain was numb from restless sleep the night before. He sympathized with Feliks, who worked with 4 hours of sleep for the last 2 days and spent most of the time bent over a piece of paper drawing or staring at a computer screen. Apart from redden eyes, the illustrator looked rather refreshed and lively. Some people have stamina.

In a few days they would hopefully finish the assignment, Toris thought as he closed his eyes and slowly started sinking into more horizontal position on the carpet. He hated sleep deprivation.

Feliks was in the middle of telling a tale about his and Francis high school days which, in his current state, Toris found very hard to follow.

"And you wouldn't believe it." Feliks gesticulated in a frenzy "Francis had the guts to smile and talk back to the principal after he was caught having sex in his office. It was something that everybody talked about for days." Toris definitely could believe that.

Well, I never had such wild adventures in high school Toris thought with a hint of jealousy.

"But you know, I was always that little wimpy kid that followed the school playboy around so I can't tell anything interesting about myself."

Toris smiled at him in reply. It was easy to have a conversation with Feliks, one just had to sit back, relax and listen.

"Okay, Mr editor," Feliks shoved the last, enormous, bite of pizza into his mouth and tried not to choke "if ya wanna help me, you can go over that pile of mags in the corner. I need some photos of girls cuddling together or doing some other naughty things."

" Ah, yeah, sure" Toris tried to muster his most straight business face. He knew it would come in handy someday.

When Felik's stifled laughter was heard, he knew he didn't succeed. "Oh my god, so you're the fan of Claire and Julia as well. You should have told me" With the growing embarrassment, editor's eyes trailed to the balcony door and the view outside. God, must he be so prudish. "Pshh. I have extra naughty pics I sometimes do as a practise, I'll show ya later."

Feliks gracefully got up from his spot and walked to the desk, stretching his back on the way. To late in stuttering his reply, with a resigned sigh Toris turned to the tower of books and magazines in the corner.

On top was a glitzy teen mag, irrelevant.

Then there was a Playboy, Toris felt his cheeks becoming flushed and glanced with guilt at the illustrator working at the opposite end of the room. Feliks back was bent over the desk, already immersed in work.

As if handling a bomb, Toris slowly set it aside and considered opening. Judging by the cover, the content would most certainly suite as research for perverted stories written by Francis. Not that Toris ever read them.

How his publishing house ,specialising in kids books , printed all the 'romance' novels was still a mystery. There was more to life than popularity and profits.

And sex set in gaudy romance plots.

He left the magazine aside as a start of 'adequate for research' pile, he would open 'the relevant material' later. With this kind of labelling everything seemed under control.

There were some books on the pile, mostly for children. Toris took one and instantly recognized the style of another illustrator in the company, the sweet animals drawn by Mr. Väinämöinen.

Next came issues of Playgirl, Toris gulped audibly. He felt embarrassed just from looking at the covers. He hoped that wasn't relevant for this project.

Half an hour and one moral dilemma later, Toris hesitantly opened the Playboy.

Feliks was humming softly while working.

* * *

><p>"Feliks are you alright?" no response. The Illustrator's gaze hung on the view outside the window. Eyes glazed, cloudy and very much absent. Not even a flinch came from more coaxing and squeezing of the shoulder. Feliks was either hypnotized or sleeping with his eyes open. Toris lifted Feliks out of the chair and slowly shifted the dead weight of the other's body to support it fully, carrying it all the way to the bedroom.<p>

The moment Feliks' body hit the materce, his eyes slipped closed. It was a sorry sight, half dead body in a pile of rumpled, oversized clothes. Feliks long hair was tide and front bangs were kept in place with pink bobby pins. 'Embarrassing' Toris thought but smiled. Carefully, he removed the glasses from the others' face. A very delicate affair, thou he suspected not even an earthquake would wake Feliks up. Toris took the 'wonderful magic potion' (articial tears for dry corneas) and dumped two in each eye. At last he was useful.

It was sunday afternoon. They, mostly Feliks, managed to work constantly throughout the weekend and finish 9 out of 12 illustrations. They still had a day and half left till Tuesday. Toris made quick calculations in his head, he could probably let the other sleep for 8 to 10 hours. He could even wake Feliks up around 5 am to get back to work. it's not like their biological clock wasn't messed up already. Now was the time to do something productive and aid the project, Toris went to make dinner.


	3. Chapter 3

"Yes, I can assure you we'll make it" Toris spoke with his boss over the phone, reassuring in a calm voice " Yes, I'll be sending the works as soon as we finish" he sighed after repeating it for what felt like the twentieth time "Thank you, I'll pass the message. Bye"

"We will have a break till next monday and we're getting a bonus for this job" He smiled at Feliks, who was alot more conscious then yesterday afternoon. His hair was pulled up and held in place with even more pins. He looked pleased with the news.

The blond turned around to the screen of the laptop and went back to work. He was humming quite loudly now. Toris noticed it some time ago, the more Feliks was stressed at work the more he singed or lip-synced with the music.

Opening today's playlist were 3 songs by Britney Spears.

It was late evening and last tweaks were made at the desk in the other half of the room.

Toris felt guilty, he might have spent all of his Ester holidays at someones flat working, but he had slept quite well on convertible sofa bed. He felt tired and all he did was helping with some of the research and preparation for print. Nothing much in comparison to the blond, that sat at the desk everyday trying to finish before the deadline.

Toris was finishing uploading files into the office servers, his boss would step inside his office in few hours, download them and glance over every picture. His boss would definitely feel refreshed after the holidays. His boss would be immaculately dressed. His boss would not have red eyes. Better to stop with this passive-agressive thinking and suck it up for the last fifteen minutes.

Next to him sat Feliks with face upheld on his hands and bored expression.

The upload was taking forever.

Toris clicked to end the session after the file transfer finished.

He leaned back and closed his eyes.

It was 5 am on Tuesday morning.

Toris groaned as he woke up in the late afternoon. He was still wearing his clothes, not his best ensemble, P.E. shorts that remembered high school days and a stinking shirt. His neck was stiff from lying on the side. With his tired, unfocused eyes he saw his colleague sleeping face. Inches away. Toris snickered, Feliks was drooling from the corner of the mouth and looked like a kid having a dream about candy store. Did he shave everyday, because his skin was very smooth.

The editor slowly got up, head painfully throbbing and decided to make breakfast or dinner, depending on classification. Breakfast counting the order of the meals in a day, dinner counting the time.

Feliks rose from the sofa less then 20 minutes later and made a frantic dash for the bathroom. That was embarrassing. How could he fall asleep and let a work colleague see him so dishevelled and definitely not fresh. Tired faced looked back at him from the mirror.

"Ya don't look half bad, old boy" Feliks shot to the reflection then started to strip himself of his beloved lilac cardigan and white jeans. He need a shower.

"Feliks are you there, when are you gonna come out? I made a meal, it will be cold." came form the other side of the door, over the sound of running water. His stomach came to life at the word meal.

"Oh, I'll be out in a second"

Feeling fresh and at least as twice conscious Feliks emerged from bathroom. Toris was siting on now made sofa checking something on his laptop.

"The breakfast is ready in the kitchen" He smiled at the blond and motioned in the general direction of the table.

"Thanks" Feliks said quietly and walked over to the kitchen-dining area, "Wohoa, that looks totally amazing" his face lit up "You totally made my day with this."

"Half'a day" Toris corrected.

They exchanged some small talk over the course of their meal.

"So, you've got any siblings?" The illustrator had no qualms about talking with his mouth full, it reminded Toris of Alfred.

"Yeah, I have a younger brother, Raivis."

"Wow, I'm also the older brother"

Toris smiled, he always felt more in place when he could bond over simple things with others. "Brothers or sisters?"

"Both, one each. The sister is the younger one. She's ten years younger than me and literary everyone spoils that little princess rotten" Feliks smiled more to himself than his co worker.

"Well, I always had a firm grip when upbringing Raivis" The other said with mock seriousness

"Really, didn't think ya had it in ya." The illustrator grinned, his green eyes flashing with mischievousness "So what has your poor little boy done without you during Easter?" Toris felt ja bit self conscious with this question, meanwhile the blond dug around pockets of his cardigan and retrieved a pack of cigarettes. "Do you mind" Not awaiting response, he lit one up and inhaled slowly.

"Well, he spent Easter with a friend" Toris tired to be as vague in his explanation as possible. He glanced at the window. It seemed a fair enought distraction.

"Girlfriend" Feliks corrected in the same taunting yet firm voice Toris heard from his mother in high school whenever romance was involved. Busted.

"Well, kind of" The window was proving more and more interesting. He tried to sound as casual as possible saying the next sentence "My brother has a boyfriend"

That earned him another grin form his coworker "Oh, don't be soo embarrassed. You're a fan of Francis novels, how come you're so prudish?"

"Wha…What? I never said I'm a fan." The editors voice rose unnaturally, making him even more self conscious.

"Oh my little boy, I can see you like them from the glint in you eyes." That was not true. Definitely.

"Actually I'm twenty-five" Toris said with a voice like he was a rebellious teenager.

"Ya still have to listen to me then, I'm older" the illustrator got his empty plate and put it into the sink "So, you' re taking me for drinks today as I was such a totally awesome guy and finished everything for the deadline. It's your duty as an editor."

It wasn't. At least not in the contract.

Toris felt a bit off loop, wasn't Feliks suppose to be shy.

* * *

><p>I'll be updating more when I get myself to correct the drafts, for now it's drinking night every night for me<p> 


End file.
